CASHNER BECOMES SEVENTH STARTING PITCHER PUT ON DL

That’s the running total of Padres starting pitchers — never mind the injured relievers — who’ve now gone on the disabled list with the addition of Andrew Cashner on Wednesday. The 23-year-old right-hander strained a lat in the third inning of his Tuesday night start against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The occasion was only the second full-fledged start of the year for one of the most exciting — certainly the fastest — young pitchers in the game. With his final strike before the injury, Cashner hit 101 mph.

“It’s tough,” said Cashner. “I felt like (Tuesday) I had a good feel for my breaking ball, had a really good (bull)pen leading up to the game, was rotating my fastball better than I had. My pitches felt real sharp.”

It wasn’t even an official pitch that caused the “grab” in his side. Holding a lead on the Diamondbacks, Cashner was getting ready for the bottom of the third when he threw a warm-up pitch that didn’t feel right, then another that really let him know that something was definitely wrong. Cashner, who recalled how he pitched through shoulder pain last year for the Chicago Cubs and was sidelined for months with a rotator-cuff strain, immediately was removed from the game.

“It actually feels a little better today than I thought it would,” said Cashner. “It’s a little bit sore. The biggest thing is to get the MRI (today in San Diego). Once we get that, we’ll know a lot more.”

The Padres know for a fact that similar — if not exact — strains of the latissimus muscle put closer Huston Street and left-handed starter Eric Stults on the DL in May. Street missed 29 games, but has returned to pitch well enough to be chosen for the All-Star Game next Tuesday, and Stults is pitching bullpen sessions before being cleared to make rehab starts.

“With Huston and Eric, there are parallels, absolutely, and those guys were out between 20 and 30 days,” said manager Bud Black. “We’ll know more in a week to 10 days, but all the indicators of the first 24 hours are what those guys also felt.”

The All-Star break bought a few days for the Padres as far as their rotation and Cashner’s recovery. The veteran who replaced Cashner on Tuesday night and earned the win, Ross Ohlendorf, could take the start Sunday against the Reds. But Black intimated after Wednesday’s game that Jason Marquis could start on three days’ rest.

Ohlendorf was the 11th different Padres starter this season, Cashner the 12th and Kip Wells the 13th. Filling the open roster spot Wednesday was rookie relief pitcher Brad Brach, back up from Triple-A Tucson.